Necessary Evil
by SuperEpicPandas
Summary: After losing his father to the War, Yuzuru Otonashi is forced to join the Eastern Regular Army (ERA) in order to support his sister Hatsune. After 6 weeks of training, he is immediately deployed to the front lines. Battle after Battle, Yuzuru soon realizes just how disgusting and tragic that war can really be. Make sure to R&R!
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** Don't ask which war this was based on. The war itself is entirely fictional, and is inspired by numerous real-life wars rather than a single one. I tried to think outside the box on this one, as it doesn't seem that many other fanfics about Angel Beats! stretch too far away from a similar topic (including mine :P). Reviews are really important for me on this story, as they will decide whether or not I'll keep writing about it. ENJOY!

**Prologue**

People have many ways to describe war. Most call it terrible, tragic, and stupid. They wish that war never existed. To be honest, I can't blame them. It destroys our homes, our families, and to some, our sanity. Because of these reasons, we find ourselves constantly trying to find ways to bring about "world peace". But is that really possible? I want you to think about the word "opinion". We will all have opinions, and there will always be that one person out there who doesn't like our opinion. If we truly want world peace, we'd want everyone to have the same opinion. And so, I ask you again: is World Peace truly possible? I don't think so. Besides, a world where everyone has the same opinion would be far too boring. Don't you agree?

* * *

The sun is concealed by thick gray clouds, giving off the impression that it's about to rain. Even so, the cobblestone main street of the city of Namaals is bustling with commoners. People walk back and forth, some to stores, others to work. No matter the destination, hundreds of people find themselves on this road daily.

While everyone carries on with their business outside, a young auburn-haired boy studies a multitude of medical dictionaries in his bedroom.

This boy is Yuzuru Otonashi.

13 years earlier, when Yuzuru was just a small boy, he and his mother went on a trip to see their relatives in the West. Their father stayed home because of his work. When their visit came to an end, Yuzuru's mother decided to travel back home on the brand-new Steam Locomotives that recently became available for public use.

In the beginning, the ride was fine. Young Yuzuru looked excitedly out the window at the beautiful fields of grass and trees while his mother smiled at him. However, something was wrong. When the train entered a tunnel, the steam engine that pulled the locomotive malfunctioned and exploded, instantly killing half of the passengers and derailing the train. The shockwave that the derailing created shook the tunnel, causing it to cave in on both sides.

Yuzuru was alive. This was simply because his mother had covered him with her body, shielding him. Luckily, his mother was alive as well. Later Young Yuzuru would find out that she had suffered injuries which slowly drained the life from her, but didn't tell Yuzuru in fear of making him worried.

With help from her son, Yuzuru's mother tended to the passengers on the train. The both of them kept the second half of the survivors alive for almost a week. However, Yuzuru's mother's condition kept getting worse. On the 7th day of being trapped in the tunnel, Yuzuru's mother collapsed while tending to someone's arm wound.

"Mother! What's wrong?" A worried Yuzuru asks, grabbing his mother's hand.

"Oh dear. I... I thought that it would take longer so I... Focused on tending to everyone else." His mother struggles to reply. Upon hearing this, tears well up in Young Yuzuru's eyes.

"No! Don't leave me, mother! We have to get back to father in the East! You have to see him again!"

"I'm... I'm afraid that won't happen." His mother tells him, tears forming in her eyes. "My son... Promise me that you will carry on our family's title as... a Doctor?"

And with these parting words, her heart stops and she takes a final breath. Her arm goes limp and falls from Yuzuru's hands onto the dirt.

"No... Mother... Come back.." Yuzuru whimpers.

A survivor walks up to Yuzuru and his mother. He kneels down and moves his head near his mother's mouth, listening for breathing. After a few moments, he sighs and stands up.

"She's gone. I'm sorry."

As he hears this, Yuzuru breaks down and sobs. He cries out for his mother to come back, even though he knows that she will never come. He embraces his mother's body tightly, as if she will come back to life if he squeezed hard enough.

Two hours later, rescue teams blew up the rubble that trapped the survivors. The body count was 16 passengers, one of them being Yuzuru Otonashi's mother.

Ever since that day, Yuzuru studied as hard as he could. He graduated from high school at the top of his class, and earned a college scholarship.

While he was at college, a war broke out. Due to political struggles, the West wanted to break free from the East and become its own country. His father quit his current job to become a soldier for the Eastern Regular Army, or ERA, for 1 year.

That brings us to today. Tomorrow, Yuzuru's father is supposed to return from his 1-year enlistment.

"Hey, Yuuuzuuruu!" A voice calls from behind Yuzuru. He places a particularly large textbook on his desk and walks to the door. When he opens it, he finds his 13-year-old sister Hatsune.

"What do you want, sis?" He asks.

"We should make father a welcome-home present! It would just seem too rude to have our father come home after one year in the ERA and not to have a gift for him!" She tells Yuzuru.

"Alright. What should we get him?"

"Well... I was thinking about about getting him a brand-new recliner! Y'know, those fancy super-comfortable chairs!"

"Erm... How are we going to get the money for that?" Yuzuru asks.

"I will pitch in half of the money from my allowance!" Hatsune replies.

"First of all, I think you're way underestimating the cost of a brand-new recliner. Second of all, I saw your allowance. It isn't a lot to begin with." He explains.

"Darn... Well, don't you have money?" The short girl asks.

"Well, I do, but I was saving it for-" Yuzuru tries to say before having his shirt pulled by his sister.

"You do? Great! Let's go buy one right now!" Hatsune exclaims. She carries him downstairs to the front door.

As soon as she opens the front door, an aged man with a black trench coat and a black fedora stands on their front doorstep, blocking their path to the outside.

"Er... Sir? Who are you?" Hatsune asks the man.

"Is your mother home?" The man asks.

Yuzuru steps in. "Our mother has been gone for a long time. I'm the leader in this house."

"I see. Well, in that case, it has become my obligation to hand you this." He holds up a small yellow envelope. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Yuzuru takes the envelope. However, before he can even ask what he means, the man walks away. Yuzuru calls out to him, but loses sight of the man, who has merged with the large crowd of people on the street.

"Yuzuru, you don't think that... Father is dead?" Hatsune asks with tears in her eyes.

"There is only one way to find out." Yuzuru replies. Upon saying this, he open the yellow envelope with trembling hands. Inside is a white note with only a few sentences. The note reads:

Dear Otonashi Family,

We regret to inform you that Aori Otonashi was Killed In Action. We are deeply sorry for your loss. You may contact the Deceased Soldier's Association (DSA) to arrange a funeral, courtesy of the ERA.

As he reads this, memories of his mother's death flood into him, causing him to drop the note. As he stands there, shocked, Hatsune picks up the note and reads it. Once she finished reading the note, she immediately falls to her knees ungracefully and begins to sob.

While his sister is full-on bawling, Yuzuru simply stands there, shocked.

What should I do? What will happen now? Yuzuru thinks to himself. Who will provide for the family now? I'm just in college! Any job they offer me won't pay enough to support Hatsune and I! Well... Except one.

Yes. That one job that is guarenteed to pay enough money to provide food for Hatsune as well as providing enough money for the rent. The very job that cost Yuzuru's father his life.

"Hatsune... I'm sorry... But I have no other choice." Yuzuru says.

"W-wah?" Hatsune replies while trying to keep more tears from falling.

Yuzuru takes a deep breath. "I have to join the ERA."

* * *

**I know this is entirely unrelated to the main idea of "Afterlife" that Angel Beats provides, but that's simply the point of it. What I attempted here was that this story would keep the original main characters (and most likely plenty of OCs) while changing the main theme that everyone has been going by. At this point, however, I'm really not sure if this is a good idea. Therefore, REVIEWS ARE IMPORTANT.**


	2. Training

**Author's Note:** So the prologue was received pretty decently, therefore I have written the first official chapter! This chapter will have a big Full Metal Jacket feel to it! I hope you enjoy it, and please leave a review! BTW The story to come will probably screw around with your emotions!

**Chapter 1: Training**

"Alright, Yuzuru Otonashi, sir, I'm going to ask you a few questions and you'll just give me a straight-up answer. Is that alright with you?" The recruitment officer asks behind his desk. Right now, Yuzuru is in the ERA recruitment office, doing the necessary work needed to join the Army.

"That's fine. Go ahead," The young boy replies.

"How old are you?"

"19 years old, sir."

"Why do you want to join the Eastern Regular Army?"

"I need to provide money for my younger sister."

"What was your occupation prior to coming here?"

"I was a college student, majoring in Medical Biology."

"Last question: Are you willing to die for your country?"

"Yes, sir." Although Yuzuru has accepted the fact that he's going to die, he has no intention of doing so in this war.

"Good boy. Now, just fill out this simple application form and hand it to the man in the desk out front."

The recruitment officer hands Yuzuru a sheet of paper that requires basic information: Name, Address, City, etc.

Yuzuru quickly fills out the document, thanks the recruitment officer for his time, and leaves the room.

As he exits the door, he turns right and heads towards the front desk, walking past other people who're waiting in line to become soldiers.

When he arrives at the front desk, he hands the paper to the middle-aged man who is sitting behind it. The man takes the paper and places it on a rather large stack of similar papers.

"Go wait on the benches outside. Seeing as how this here stack of applications is gettin' rather thick, I'm thinkin that you'll be boarded onto them military carriages and brought to training camp," The man tells Yuzuru.

"Carriages? I didn't see any carriages." Yuzuru replies, confused.

"Ya din't notice 'em? They was right outside when you walked in." The man explains. _It seems as though this man's accent becomes more and more apparent the more he speaks, _Yuzuru thinks to himself.

Yuzuru looks outside. Sure enough, there are about twenty carriages, every one having two horses. _Well, would you look at that. I'm guessing that each of those carriages could hold about twenty people. Four hundred soldiers for all of these carriages... Damn dude._

"Oh, there they are. I wonder why I didn't notice them. Anyways, I'll be off then." Yuzuru impersonally waves goodbye to the man behind the counter and walks out the door.

As Yuzuru walks out the door, he searches for the benches that the middle-aged man spoke of. Outside the office are many tall pine trees and other forestry. The area surrounding the office, however, is cleared out to provide space for the picnic tables on his right and a path to the dirt road. The dirt road itself, which the twenty carriages are parked on, leads in two directions: Towards Namaals and towards the training camp.

He walks over to the large array of picnic tables and takes a seat next at a table that has three other friendly looking people: Two guys and a young woman, all of which about his age. One of the boys has navy-blue hair and tan skin, while the other has reddish-brown hair and paler skin. The woman has reddish-pink hair stretching down to her chin, and appears to be humming a tune.

"Hey there. You just finish your applications?" The blue-haired boy asks Yuzuru.

"Yeah, but that's pretty obvious. I'm Yuzuru Otonashi." Yuzuru introduces himself.

"Is that so? Well then, I'm Hideaki Hinata. Just call me Hideaki, though. From what I heard about life in the ERA, every soldier becomes like brother-and-sister." The blue-haired boy says.

"I'm Taichi Ooyama. Nice to meet you." The reddish-brown haired boy tells Yuzuru.

The girl stops humming and looks at Yuzuru. "I'm Masami Iwasawa. Just call me Songbird, though. It's what everyone calls me."

"Nice to meet you all," Yuzuru says, then sits down next to Hideaki.

"So, Yuzuru, what were you before all this?" Hideaki asks, immediately using Yuzuru's first name rather than "Otonashi."

"Oh, uh, I was a college student studying to become a doctor. I guess that means I'll be some sort of medic, right?" Yuzuru replies.

"I guess so. Normally, they'd have the woman doing that. But ever since the East decided to pass a law enabling woman to join any branch of the army, they also had it work backwards. Now, anybody can become a medic." Hideaki explains.

"So what were you guys before joining?" Yuzuru asks everyone at the table.

"Same as you, Yuzuru, a college student. Except _I_ majored in mechanical engineering. I also played some baseball, but not enough to consider myself a pro," Hideaki explains.

"I did nothing in particular. It was my older sister who was the one my family counted on." Taichi explains.

"I was aspiring to become a poet or musician or something like that. Since _that_ kinda fell through for me, I ended up joining this." Songbird explains.

"You know, Yuzuru, your life seems to have had the most potential out of all of us." Hideaki remarks. "Even though I was a college student like you, I never really took it seriously. Masami is a good singer, but for some reason, nobody accepted her. As for Taichi, his special trait is that he has none."

Songbird gives Yuzuru a questioning look. "You don't really have to tell us, but why did you join?" She asks.

Before Yuzuru could answer her, however, the recruitment officer walks outside.

**"ALRIGHT, IT'S TIME FOR EVERYONE TO BOARD THE CARRIAGES!"** He yells. Upon saying this, everyone gets up off the picnic tables and walks over to the carriages. One by one, everybody is loaded up onto the carriages and transported to the training camp. _Man, that officer is loud,_ Yuzuru thinks to himself. Little does he know, however, that his future is full of _much_ louder noise.

* * *

**"WELCOME TO TRAINING CAMP!"** The drill instructor, who they call Mutou, yells in a booming voice. **"For the next six weeks, I guarentee that every single one of you will be put through ABSOLUTE HELL! When those six weeks are over, I expect every single one of you to be hardened soldiers!"** Officer Mutou walks up to one soldier in particular, who is named Takamatsu. **"IS THAT CLEAR!?"**

"YES, SIR!" Takamatsu yells back, not nearly as loud as the Officer Mutou.

The drill instructor walks up to another soldier, named Fujimaki.**"GIMME YOUR WAR FACE, SOLDIER!" **Officer Mutou instructs.

Upon receiving this command, Fujimaki gives a mildly-menacing face that would probably scare young children in a haunted house, accompanied by a "GRRR!"

**"YOU CALL THAT A WAR FACE!? GIMME A REAL WAR FACE, SOLDIER!"**

Fujimaki visibly tries his best to give the most menacing face he can muster. By now, if someone were to wake up next to a person with _that_ face, they would probably jump out of the bed.

**"YOU DON'T SCARE ME! WORK ON IT!" **Officer Mutou instructs.

"YES, SIR!" Fujimaki replies.

Then, Officer Mutou walks up and down the line of people that Yuzuru and everyone else had created.

**"ALRIGHT, WE ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN YOUR FIRST TRAINING SEQUENCE! YOU ARE TO WADE, SWIM, OR DOGGY-PADDLE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE MUDDY POND BEHIND ME AND MAKE IT TO THE FLAG IN THE MIDDLE. THERE WILL BE OTHER SOLDIERS ON THE OTHER SIDE WHO WANT TO DO THE SAME THING. YOU ARE TO PREVENT _THEM_ FROM DOING SO! ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS!?" **Officer Mutou asks.

"NO, SIR!" Everyone says in unison.

**"Alright, then! You will all be given small cloth flags to be tied around your waist! If anyone were to pull your flag off of your body, you will give up trying to make it to the middle and come back to where I am standing now! Do you all understand?!"** Officer Mutou explains in a voice slightly quieter than per usual.

"YES, SIR!"

**"Officer O'Day, please hand each of these maggots a rope and a flag!"** Officer Mutou commands.

A man in his 40s then pick up a large basket and walks over to the line of soldiers. He then proceeds to hand each soldier a small rope with two 8-centimeter strips of cloth at each end. When it comes to Yuzuru, he takes one and ties it around his waist. _I wonder if there is some sort of exploit I can use to make my flag harder to grab,_ Yuzuru thinks to himself.

While he is fiddling with his flags, Officer Mutou takes the gun from his pocket and fires in the air, yelling **"GO!"**

Startled, Yuzuru stands there. Before he realizes it, his wrist is being yanked into the pond by newfound friend Hideaki Hinata.

"Come on, Yuzuru! We need every man for this one!" Hideaki yells. This brings Yuzuru back into reality.

"Oh SHIT! ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, Hideaki! I'm coming!" Yuzuru says, then pulls his arm away from Hideaki's grasp. To Yuzuru's surprise, the deepest the 'pond' goes is about 4 feet deep.

Then everybody gets into the mood. There's wrestling, punching, flag-pulling, and everything in between. Yuzuru tries his best to get involved with none of it, but finds it unavoidable. Halfway towards the flag, he finds himself being confronted by another soldier from the opposing team. To his surprise, this soldier is none other than Masami Iwasawa, aka Songbird.

"Outta my way, Songbird! I'm getting that flag!" Yuzuru commands.

"You really think it's going to be that easy!? You got another thing coming!"

The two proceed to wrestle it out in the middle of the 'pond'. Songbird attacks Yuzuru with such fury that it can only be described as that of a soldier. Yuzuru finds himself struggling to prevent Songbird from grabbing his flag multiple times, all the while trying to keep from falling into the shallow water.

Soon the two get into a rhythm. Songbird attacks with one arm while Yuzuru blocks it with his arm. For every arm or leg Songbird attacks with, Yuzuru blocks it with his arm or leg.

_She lets her guard down in between her attacks. I'll get her there,_ Yuzuru thinks to himself.

As soon as Yuzuru blocks the next punch, he dives for Songbird's flag at her waist.

"GOT IT!" A voice yells.

To Yuzuru's surprise, it was his own.

"Damn you, Yuzuru!" Songbird exclaims. She takes her flag back and retreats to her side of the 'pond'.

As Yuzuru mentally celebrates, he notices the flag._ Oh, right. There's still that, _He thinks to himself.

He continues to proceed towards the flag, only to find himself confronted by a large brown-haired man. Yuzuru saw this man at the picnic tables, and remembers hearing someone call him "Matsushita."

"Haha! Someone like you won't get past me!" Matsushita exclaims.

Just as Yuzuru readies himself to wrestle once again, two people tackle Matsushita, pinning him in the 6-inch deep water. These people are Taichi Ooyama and Hideaki Hinata, both of which Yuzuru lost sight of during the scramble in the very beginning.

"Hideaki and I won't hold him down for long! Go, Yuzuru!" Taichi exclaims.

"Thanks guys!" Yuzuru replies, then goes to the flag.

Just as Yuzuru makes it to the small island that has the flag, he spots another young woman from the opposing team on the other side of this small island. She has amber eyes and dark blue hair.

Yuzuru is closer to the flag, but the other girl is faster. As soon as Yuzuru grabs the flag, he finds that the girl had grabbed it at the exact same time.

"Goddamnit, this flag is MINE!" Yuzuru yells and kicks the girl away with. She lets go of the flag and falls into the muddy 'pond' behind her.

Yuzuru yanks the flag from the pole and holds it high in the air.

"I GOT IT!" He yells triumphantly. Immediately after saying this, he is tackled by the dark-haired girl and the both of them fall into the muddy 'pond'.

* * *

Later on, Yuzuru sits with Hideaki, Taichi, and Songbird during a 30-minute lunch.

"I still can't believe we won," Ooyama remarks.

"If it wasn't for Yuzuru, you wouldn't have," Songbird says.

"Ah c'mon, Songbird, don't be so bummed." Hideaki tells Masami.

"Hey, you're not the one who has to run two extra miles tomorrow!" The red-haired girl yells at Hideaki.

"Now, now, Masami, there's no need to be so mad," Yuzuru says in an attempt to calm Songbird down.

"Shut up, Yuzuru! I blame YOU the most!" Songbird exclaims.

"I think that's quite obvious, Songbird, but you're kind of causing a scene," Yuzuru replies, then points to the rest of the mess hall. Songbird looks at everyone else, and finds them staring. Some look curious, others stare with anticipation of a fight.

"Ugh, fine." Songbird says, then returns to picking at food which she visibly doesn't want to eat.

* * *

And so, training continued. For the next six weeks, Yuzuru and his new friends went through dirty, hellish training.

On the second-to-last day, Yuzuru's cabin and Songbird's cabin all met up in front of the two cabins. There, Officer Mutou will tell them where they will be transported once their time at training camp is over.

"Private Hideaki Hinata," Officer Mutou calls out in a voice much softer than what Yuzuru is accustomed to.

"Yes, sir."

"You will be deployed to the northern front lines, in the town of Sorley. You will be under the command of Sergeant Yuri Nakamura."

"Ok, sir."

"Alright, next one. Private Yuzuru Otonashi."

"Yes, sir."

"You, too, will be deployed to the northern front lines, town of Sorley. Just as well, you'll be under command of Sergeant Yuri Nakamura."

"Ok, sir."

Officer Mutou continues down the list, assigning everybody to their respective areas. In the end, 9 people ended up getting assigned to the town of Sorley: Taichi Ooyama, Hideaki Hinata, Masami Iwasawa, Matsushita, Takamatsu, Fujimaki, the dark-haired girl, whose name was Shiina, a purple-haired boy named Noda, and lastly, Yuzuru Otonashi. The other 11 people in the group were assigned to the southern front lines under the command of a man named Sergeant Hayes.

When Officer Mutou is done, he closes his book and take a good long look at the people before him.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Has this batch of farmboys and city swells _actually_ turned into a group of battle-worthy soldiers?"

* * *

**VOILA! Chapter 1 is DONE! I know this is a bit sudden since I posted the prologue just the other day, but I simply said "fuck it". Now, here it is! Be warned that this chapter wasn't be nearly as heartwrenching as I plan to make the chapters to come. Oh yeah, and I won't be doing any replies to the reviews**** (Like I do in Locked Memories)**** unless you guys really want me to for this story. I worked pretty hard on this, so I really hope that you'll leave a review!**

** Regards and all that, SEP (SuperEpicPanda you nubs)**


	3. Welcome To Sorley!

**Author's Note:** OH BOY! Welcome to Sorley! Spoiler: There will be OCs (What, you expected there to be the same 10 characters throughout a war filled with death? Hell naw!) Go on and read it! While you're at it, leave a review! ENJOY! Or not... :P (BTW if the names of the OCs seem familiar I ripped them from other anime. Don't disembowel me for it :I)

**Chapter 2: Welcome to Sorley!**

"Ah god, these uniforms are scratchy," Hideaki complains. After getting assigned to their respective areas, every soldier was given military uniforms made with cheap cloth. All of their uniforms were almost exactly identical, with the exception of Yuzuru. Since he became the medic of his Company, he was given an outfit with a yellow heart on the cap and right chest. After that, they were sent to the cafeteria, where they wait for the transport carriages which will take them to Sorley, the town that Otonashi's company was assigned to.

"Get used to it. You're gonna be wearing that thing for the next twelve months." Fujimaki points out.

"But goddamnit, he's right! Gah, these damned things make me feel like I'm wearing a porcupine!" Noda exclaims.

"If you truly want to know, these uniforms are being mass-produced with cheap material. Taking that into consideration along with the fact that they are new, you can easily figure out exactly _why_ they are so uncomfortable," Takamatsu explains. Though he appears smart, rumors have gone around that he isn't as intelligent as he appears.

"I don't give a damn _how_ or _why _these damn things are itchy! How do they expect us to fight in these things?!" Noda continues to complain.

Just then, Officer Mutou walks in through the cafeteria's front door. He immediately begins speaking. "Your transport carriage awaits you soldiers just outside. Go on, then. It's time for you to serve your country, your family, and your friends."

Everybody gets up off their tables and walks past Officer Mutou, out the door.

"By the way, the uniforms will become less uncomfortable the more you wear them. Seeing as how you're going to Sorley, the uniforms will probably feel more-or-less like normal clothing by the time you get there," Mutou explains as the nine soldiers walk past him.

Outside, the soldiers spot a two-horse carriage that is similar to the one they came in on. There is a man standing behind it, next to a few long boxes.

"Who's this chump? Is he going to give us a goodbye speech too?" Fujimaki sarcastically asks.

"No. Don't you see those boxes next to him? Those are our guns. He's probably a gunsmith hired by the ERA," Hinata replies.

"If I recall correctly, those are the brand-new bolt-action rifles with a 5 round magazine. It's a big step-up from the 1-shot muskets we used in the last war this country was in." Takamatsu explains.

"Oh damn, so I'm getting one of _those?_ Hell yeah!" Noda says entusiastically.

And so, the soldiers all line up in the back of the carriage. Each one is handed a gun by the gunsmith and steps onto the carriage. Once they're all on, the gunsmith gives the signal to the carriage driver. Soon after, they're headed off towards Sorley.

During the trip, the soldiers pass old battlefields where the ERA defeated the New Rebel Army of the West, or NRAW, and pushed them back. Despite the once-beautiful landscape having been deserted by soldiers for months, the soldiers still spot a few bodies in the trenches. Some of them haven't decayed too much, so they can still see the faces of the soldiers.

"Look there." Songbird says, pointing at one trench while the carriage passes by.

"Huh? What about it?" Ooyama asks.

"They didn't clean up their bodies."

"So? We've seen a bunch of dead bodies before this." Fujimaki replies.

"But they haven't decayed too much. See that one body?" Iwasawa points to one body who has two deep wounds in the chest.

"It's... It's a kid!" Noda exclaims.

"They allowed kids to fight?"

"They don't want to, but some kids lie about their age in order to fight. It's a shame." Takamatsu explains.

And so, the carriage keeps on rolling forward. Nothing else of note happens after they see the dead boy in the trench, except for the fact that it was raining on one side of the road and not the other.

"Weather sure is strange, isn't it?" Matsushita asks, looking up at the sky.

"Someday we'll know how it works. When that day comes, who knows, maybe we'll be able to manipulate it ourselves." Takamatsu replies.

"That's ridiculous. There's no way that man will ever be able to do that." Fujimaki claims.

"That's not for you to say. Someday I'll fly. I will fly in a machine, far above the world. Then I will finally be superior!" Hinata exclaims. "Once I get back from the war, I'm going back to college. I'm going to invent wings for man!" Hinata looks longingly at the sky, reaching his hand up as if he could grab the sky and bring it down to him.

"How shallow-minded..." Shiina says for the first time in the whole trip.

"She's right. You can't do that. As a friend, I recommend that you literally keep your head out of the clouds..." Yuzuru says. "Though it would be nice to fly like that..."

"Yeah, it would. Despite it being totally impossible to both predict the weather _or_ fly in a machine, both would be nice." Iwasawa says.

And so, the nine soldiers look up at the sky. Both the clouds on one side of the road and the blue sky on the other seem beautiful. Deep inside, they all wish to fly far above man, know a piece of the future, or both.

* * *

"Hey, Yuzuru. Wake up." Hinata says, nudging the auburn-haired boy's shoulder. Yuzuru opens his eyes and finds that they aren't in the countryside he fell asleep in. They're in a large town that looks like Namaals without the large factories. Sorley.

"Huh? What?" Yuzuru asks, still sleepy.

"We're here." Hinata explains

"Wow, that was fast..."

"Not really, you were knocked out cold for a while. As you can see, it's pretty late in the night."

Yuzuru looks up at the sky that everyone wished to fly in. Sure enough, it's night time. Stars are scattered around the sky, making the world look like it's surrounded by glittering diamonds. Despite there being little to no manmade light, the full moon illuminates the city with its beautiful bluish-gray light.

"You didn't just fall asleep again, did you, Yuzuru?" Hinata asks.

Yuzuru snaps out of his trance of star-gazing. "Oh, uh, no. It's just that the sky seems beautiful at this time of night, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, it sure is." Hinata replies, and looks at the sky with Yuzuru. "I'm just glad I get to see it with you, man."

"Are you gay?"

"HELL NO! I meant it as a fellow soldier and good friend! I have a girl back home, y'know!"

"If you say so."

"Anyways, our commanding officer is waiting for us. Yuri Nakamura, I think her name is. C'mon, everybody already left the carriage."

"Alright."

The two hop off the carriage and walk towards what appears to be the center of town. There's a statue of the town's founder on a pedastal in the clearing: Tom Sorley. Standing in front of the statue is a short girl with magenta hair and a tall, muscular blond man with a mustache. Both of them are in a similar uniform to Yuzuru and Hinata. In front of the two of them are the seven other soldiers of Yuzuru's company, all of them in a horizontal line. Hinata and Yuzuru walk over to them and line up at the end of the line.

"... So in short, welcome to the town of Sorley! May god have mercy on us all!" Yuri exclaims. "Oh yeah, and while you're all here, you may as well talk to D Company. They're just a few blocks to your left, and we'll be fighting most of our battles close to them. At ease."

_I guess Hinata and I just missed a whole speech. Oh well, it was probably about how life will be around here,_ Yuzuru thinks to himself.

As the soldiers all break apart and walk off in various directions, Yuri points to Yuzuru and Hinata. "You two! Over here!"

"Oh shit, is she gonna grill us for not being there for her welcoming speech?" Hinata asks.

"Probably. C'mon." Yuzuru says. The both of them then walk over to Yuri and the blond man.

"What were you two doing on the carriage? Why didn't you come along with the rest of E Company?" Yuri asks.

"Uh, yeah, about that..." Hinata tries to explain. However, before he can actually start explaining, Yuri delivers an open-palm strike to his face.

"I want answers, not stuttering!" She yells.

"Best you answer her, boys. You don't want to get slapped by Sergeant Yuri more than twice. It starts to hurt something awful." The large man says to the two boys with a deep voice. "By the way, I'm Corporal Devlin, Yuri's second-in-command. As you could probably assume, this is Sergeant Yuri Nakamura, the leader of E Company."

"Thanks for the tip, Sir. Anyways, Sergeant Yuri-" Yuruzu says before being slapped by Yuri in a manner strikingly similar to Hinata. "OW! What was that for!?"

"I hate it when people use Sergeant with my name!" Yuri exclaims. "The only reason I didn't hit Devlin is because he was introducing me!"

"So should we just... Call you Yuri?" Yuzuru asks while clutching the large red mark on his face.

"That will be fine."

"What about Yurippe?" Hinata asks.

"Eh?" The other three say in unison.

"Yuri is the name my mother has. It just feels weird calling you that. So, can I just call you Yurippe?"

"Ya know what? I'm liking that nickname. I'll call you Yurippe too." Devlin says.

"Well, in that case, I guess I will too..." Yuzuru says.

Instead of getting a reply from the newly-nicknamed Yurippe, Hinata is once again delivered an open-palm strike to the face. "Don't you call me that!" She exclaims.

While clutching his face, Hinata smiles slightly. Only Yuzuru notices it, however.

"Heh, whether you like it or not, you're Yurippe from now in." A chuckling Hinata says, still doubled over from the pain of Yuri's slap.

"Grr... Get out of my sight." Yurippe growls.

Hinata and Yuzuru bow to Yurippe, and the two of them walk away.

"Didn't Yurippe say something about another Company we'll be working with?" Hinata asks.

"Yeah. She said they were in the direction we're walking now." Yuzuru explains.

The two of them walk for a bit longer, and find themselves approached by three soldiers.

"Hey! You two from E Company?" One of them asks. Yuzuru immediately notices that this soldier has a yellow heart on his cap and right side of his chest similar to Yuzuru's. A medic.

"Yeah, we are. You three from D Company?" Yuzuru replies.

"That's right. Our leader, Chaa, told us that we'd be fighting close to each other so we should get to know each other. I am Medic Youhei Taniguchi, at your service. I assume you are the medic of E Company?" Youhei asks, pointing at Yuzuru.

"That's right. I am Medic Yuzuru Otonashi, and this is Private Hideaki Hinata." Yuzuru explains.

"Then I'm Private Tomoya Yaegashi,. This is Private Shizuka Inaba." The other soldier with blue hair slightly lighter than Hinata's explains. Inaba, who is next to Tomoya, says nothing but stares at Yuzuru. Yuzuru stares back at her awkwardly, and Yuzuru takes the chance to study what she looks like. Shizuka Inaba is a girl about Yurippe's height, with black hair and dark eyes.

"Erm... Why are you staring at me?" Yuzuru finally asks. Immediately, the girl snaps out of her staring and immediately blushes. The darkness makes her blushing hard to notice. However, everybody can still see it anyways.

"Wow, Inaba, I never thought you were capable of that much emotion." Tomoya teases. "At training camp, you were so insociable that Youhei and I had to bug you for half of our time there to get you to talk to us. Now this? I'm surprised."

"Shut up! It's not what you think! I just wanted to know if this man was entirely capable of healing me if I get wounded in battle!" Shizuka snaps.

"Why not me?" Taniguchi asks. "I probably know just as much about medical procedures as Yuzuru. We both went through the same training!"

"Erm, well, that's because, uhm, it's because you won't always be around and I just thought that, um, _he _might actually be there for me- WAIT! That came out wrong, i-it's not what you think, I assure you!" stutters Yuki, who appears extremely flustered.

"Ah... Alright, I think you've said enough, Shizuka..." Yuzuru says. "Anyways, where's the rest of your company? I'd like to see them."

"Oh, right. Come with us. Many of the other soldiers from your company have already met us." Tomoya says, then motions them to follow him.

The two of them follow Tomoya, Youhei, and Shizuka to what seems to be the west exit of Sorley. In the middle of the street is a large bonfire with about twenty people scattered near it, all of them illuminated by the yellow glow of the fire. Yuzuru recognizes some of them as soldiers from E Company. He spots Songbird talking to four other female soldiers, Fujimaki and Ooyama speaking with a strange-looking soldier with a red bandana, and Takamatsu speaking with two other soldiers, one with large square glasses and another with blond hair.

Tomoya leads them inside a tall building, then starts heading upstairs.

"This building is larger than the rest. Why is that?" Hinata asks.

"Ah, yes. That's because this building was the headquarters of a railroad-construction company. Their factories are outside of town, god knows why. Apparently the owner had some sort of vision that it'd be better to locate their headquarters IN the town and have the factories OUT of town. Safe to say, the guy was crazy."

And so, they continue heading upstairs. Eventually, they reach the top floor, which towers over the rest of the city. In the middle of the room is a large table, which is covered with candles and a few documents. On the other side of the room, opposite of the table, is a large man with a scruffy beard and engineer's goggles on his forehead. He appears to be observing the rest of the town through a pair of binoculars. The man notices us and puts his binoculars down on the table. As he does this, Tomoya, Taniguchi and Shizuka stand at attention. Yuzuru and Hinata follow suit.

"At ease, Private. Well, who are these people? Soldiers from E Company?" The man asks in a gruff voice.

"Indeed they are. Sergeant Chaa, meet Private Hideaki Hinata and Medic Yuzuru Otonashi of E Company." Tomoya introduces.

"They are, huh?" Chaa asks, inspecting the two soldiers. "Well, you seem fit to serve under Yuri. She and I have a history together, you know."

"If it isn't any trouble, may I ask how you know her?" Hinata inquires.

"I know what you're thinking, and it ain't _that_. You see, she and I fought together in the war with Eastern Jigoku. And we did damn well, if I do say so myself. Because of that, the higher-ups made sure to put us as close together as possible. I'll admit it's strange that they went out of their way just to assign us together, but I won't complain so long as it helps me. Anyways, don't you get any funny ideas about your Sergeant bein' a woman. She'll kick your ass if you try anything on her." Chaa warns.

"I wasn't planning on it, sir." Yuzuru tells Chaa. "Anyways, I have a question to ask you. I was planning to ask Sergeant Yurippe, but Hinata blew it before I could."

"Before you ask _me_ the question, may I know why you just referred to her as "Yurippe"?" Chaa inquires.

"Oh, that's the nickname I gave her. My mother has the same name, so I just started calling her Yurippe." Hinata butts in.

"She isn't going to like that..." Chaa warns.

"We know. She slapped Hinata twice. Anyways, may I ask you the question now?" Yuzuru asks.

"Fine. Go ahead."

"I was wondering when we were going to do our first operation. Surely the enemy sees the importance of this city, so they're bound to attack sometime."

"Smart boy. Indeed, they are planning an attack. Yuri's scouts reported that their forces are about twelve miles west from us."

"So do we just brace for an attack?"

"Not at all. Come here." Chaa says, then walks over to the table. he takes one of the folded papers from the top and opens it, revealing that it was actually a map of the area.

"You see here? That's Sorley. That's where we are." Chaa moves his fingers to the left. "_That_ is where the enemy has made camp for the night. Scouts have reported a force of about 4,500 troops. With a force of that size, the average distance that they'll move per day is roughly five miles. Given their options, they'll most likely move along _this _trail and set up their next camp _here, _seven miles west of our position. That is when we'll attack. We'll hit them before they hit us. That way we'll catch them by surprise. I'll provide the details to everyone else in the morning, but that's the basic plan." Chaa folds up the map and tosses it on the pile of scattered papers._  
_

"Why can't you tell us now?" Taniguchi asks.

"You won't need any further information until tomorrow, because that's when the operation will take place. Now go, enjoy your evening as much as you can. Tomorrow, we're going to fight." Chaa says. The five soldiers then walk out the door, down the stairs, and back outside.

"I'll give him one thing: He's not as violent as Yuri." Hinata points out.

"Don't be fooled. Sergeant Chaa is magnificent in battle." A voice tells them. The group looks to their right, only to find a short brown-haired woman staring at them.

"Who are you?" Yuzuru asks.

"I'm Corporal Nigami Asahina, second-in-command of D Company." The woman explains.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Private Hideaki Hinata from E Company, and this is Medic Yuzuru Otonashi, also from E Company." Hinata explains.

"I know who you are. Anyways, I must warn you: Chaa is very dangerous, as am I. If you disobey any order from him, me, Sergeant Yuri, or Corporal Devlin, I will not hesitate to rip your head off your body right where you stand!" Nigami warns.

"Alright then, understood." Yuzuru says, trying his best not to look intimidated. This woman, despite her petite appearance, has the ability to make the toughest of men seem like boy scouts.

"Anyways, go on. That's all I wanted to say." Nigami says. The five soldiers then walk away with a brisk pace.

"Damnit guys, why didn't you back us up!?" Hinata angrily asks his D Company companions once they're out of earshot of Nigami.

"I thought it was funny." Tomoya replies.

"I didn't want to get in her way." Taniguchi tells them.

Shizuka stays silent.

"Anyways, Hideaki, I'm sure you would do the same thing if you were in their position. After all, she _is _a pretty scary woman." Yuzuru says in an attempt to calm his blue-haired friend down.

"Ah fine."

"Anyways, we should go get some shut-eye. By the position of the moon, it's probably around midnight. I'd like to be as rested as possible before our first operation." Tomoya tells the group. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay?" The three soldiers walk away from Yuzuru and Hinata. Before Yuzuru and Hinata begin to walk back to E Company's post, Yuzuru catches a glance from Shizuka. _There's something different about her. _

Despite the darkness, Yuzuru could easily see the message that Shizuka was trying to send him through that glance.

_I'm scared._

* * *

**So I thought I'd show you a few lines of dialogue which will hint at the next chapter! Here they are!**

"Operation Start!" Yuri exclaims

"I don't want to die, Yuzuru!" Ooyama whimpers.

**"FIRE!"** Chaa yells.

"You **BASTARDS!**" Hinata exclaims.

"What have I done?" Yuzuru asks. **"WHAT HAVE I DONE?"**

**Well that's that! Yes, I know that Angel Beats does this at the end of every episode (that's where I got this from xP). Be sure to favorite, review, and all that other stuff! See you next chapter! ****-SEP**


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